A proposed $1,200 pay increase for Pope County's 248 full-time employees would cost taxpayers $297,600 per year, according to salary information released by county treasurer Donna Wall's office.

That amounts to a four-percent increase from the $7.3 million the Pope County Quorum appropriated for full-time salaries in 2013. The county's full-time employees — including law enforcement officers, paramedics, county department heads and elected officials — earn an average of $29,435 annually.